Barabbas
Magistrate
Terri has worked herself into a martyr's ecstasy as she disrobes and hands herself over to the torturers. Her last words, after enduring the torture, before she died are recounted below:
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seems to be a little fire. He was thrusting it at times into my breast and belly, to pierce my very lungs and intestines; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of nature. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than devotion. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and life’s force, that I pray to God and His goodness to make her experience it who may think that I am lying." (Art by Boris Vallejo)
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seems to be a little fire. He was thrusting it at times into my breast and belly, to pierce my very lungs and intestines; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of nature. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than devotion. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and life’s force, that I pray to God and His goodness to make her experience it who may think that I am lying." (Art by Boris Vallejo)